Focus on the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series
December 2nd, 2006 by Alan Chudnow
One of the most famous and highly collectible of the early genre series is the renowned Adult Fantasy Series published by Ballantine Books between 1969 and 1974. The series grew out of the popularity of Ballantine’s paperback editions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s now famous quartet, as well as a number of other fantasy classics seen in paperback for the first time.
Capitalizing on the success of the first set of books and seeing a growing desire for fantasy literature, Ian and Betty Ballantine enlisted author/editor Lin Carter to produce a series of paperback fantasy books. Carter produced a seminal series of fantasy including many works that had been out of print and unavailable for some time.
The series is identifiable by a distinctive “Unicorn Head” colophon in the upper right hand corner and/or the phrase “A Ballantine Adult Fantasy” in the upper left hand corner of the cover. The colophon was redesigned in December of 1969 and appears first on that month’s publication, Hannes Bok’s The Sorcerer’s Ship. Each publication also featured an introduction by Carter.
Most collectors of the BAF series include the sixteen books published by Ballantine prior to the series inception, beginning with Tolkien’s The Hobbit, as precursors to the official series. Also usually included are two non-fiction books by Lin Carter himself concerning the works of J.R.R Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft.
Additionally, two other books are commonly considered part of the BAF series though published after the series colophon was dropped. The first, published in June of 1974 is H. Warner Munn’s Merlin’s Ring which includes the Carter introduction and the second, Evangeline Walton’s Prince of Annwn, which lacks the logo and Carter introduction but completes the Mabinogi cycle started by Walton’s three books issued under the Unicorn Head colophon.
Due to being a paperback series, having a well defined checklist, a finite number of books and the generally inexpensive cost of most of the BAF titles, collecting the series is both easy and satisfying. Copies of many of the books frequently show up in yard sales and used bookstores. Dealers at conventions usually have a number of titles available and much of the series is available online. It is an excellent series for the beginning collector.
A complete list of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series appears on the Collecting SF web site.
SWEET!
i always wanted a list of that series.
i am a slut for great cover art and THAT series had terrific high fantasy covers.
I’ve got most of these-some wrapped in plastic NM condition-found a load of them in a huge used bookstore in Las Cruces, NM, and bought more online…the three stumpers for a collection in excellent condition seem to be “The Man Who was Thursday”, “The Three Impostors” and “Poseidonis” – virtually impossible to find except for reading copies… Too bad after I hunt these down the fun of collecting will be over…do you think these will appreciate in collectibility over time?
Daniel Jameson/Silver City, NM
Daniel,
Though no one can predict the vagaries of the collectible book market I’m fairly certain that the BAF series will continue to be very collectible. Not only for all the reasons I mentioned in the above but, as jgodsey mentioned, the series is highly valued for its stunning cover art. This makes the series appealing to yet another group of collectors who acquire books and magazines for the art work alone.
As for the fun of collecting being over once you’ve completed the BAF series, why don’t you consider starting another collection of one or more of the other paperback imprints. The Ace Doubles and Ballantine Originals series are both very popular and will keep your collecting appetite appeased for some time. Good luck on those last three BAFs!
Hey Alan,
I went looking for the list that you posted
“A complete list of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series appears on the Collecting SF web site.”
and the page doesn’t exist.
Just a heads up! In case the link is wrong or you simply forgot to upload it
TCALW… TWNI
John
there is a good list in the wikipedia article on BAFs; the “Haunted Bibliophile” also has a good page on these books.
John,
Thanks for the heads up. A broken link is always a bit embarrassing. It’s fixed now if you’d like to take a look. I ran across a fine collection of many the BAF covers at http://phantasma.onza.net/biblio/lists/baf.html as well as a gallery of the covers of many Lin Carter books at http://www.angelfire.com/az/vrooman/carterbookcovers.html. Beware of the later site however, the background color choice may fry your brain after a short time.